Monday, November 14, 2011

Today's Headlines

First Review of Amazon's Kindle Fire
The Washington Post
Writer Josh Topolsky:  "Can a $200 mini-tablet take on Apple’s behemoth? Can it derail the plans of other Android tablet-makers? And does the release of this product fundamentally change Amazon’s position in the market?The answer is ... maybe. But they have to do some tinkering first."

Tablet Owners Spend More Time Watching Online Video
CNET
Tablet users averaged 30 percent more viewing time per session compared with desktops, according to data released this week by Ooyala, a provider of video services to major brands. Tablet users also tended to be more engaged, finishing videos at nearly twice the rate as desktop users.

Tablets Score Big with Pro Sports Teams
CNN
The Bucs are one of two NFL teams that have purchased iPads for their players and coaches to use instead of the standard playbook. Baseball and hockey leagues have also taken notice of the advantages of mobile technology.

Harry McCracken Wants a Kindle Fire Phone
PCWorld
McCracken:  "I wondered why no company has taken up the challenge of building…well, the iPhone of Android phones. Something that’s elegant, approachable, uncluttered, and respectful of the consumer’s intelligence...And then it hit me: Why not Amazon??

Collection of Quotes Predicting Failure of Original Kindle
The New York Times
On the eve of the launch of the Kindle Fire, The New York Times takes a moment to look at pundits who predicted the original uni-functional Kindle would tank.

Best Chart Ever Comparing E-Readers
paidContent
Ten e-readers are compared in an extremely thorough chart analyzing features like content availability to battery life. 

Friday, November 11, 2011

Today's Headlines

Tablet Owners Use to Device to Shop
Adweek
According to a study from mobile ad network Jumptap and comScore, 63 percent of tablet owners have made a purchase with their device, as opposed to just 31 percent of mobile owners. That compares to 83 percent of PC owners who have completed a purchase on their laptop or desk computer.

 More Newspaper Content to Be Available on RIM PlayBook
paidContent
RIM has a new deal with NewspaperDirect, a distributor of e-editions for more than 2,000 newspapers from 95 countries, for the service to be preloaded on the PlayBook tablet.

Branded Tablet Shipments Expected to Soar 60% Next Year
Digitimes
Global branded tablet PC shipments in the fourth quarter are not expected to see growth creating concerns among market watchers whether the tablet PC market has already reached saturation, but Digitimes Research senior analyst James Wang believes that the zero-growth in the fourth quarter is the joint affect of Japan's earthquake on March 11 and the global economic downturn, which should not become an obstacle that restrains the tablet PC market's growth in the future.

MIA:  Where Is Microsoft's 7-Inch Tablet
ZDNET
There's a window of opportunity for Microsoft because Apple has no intention as of yet to produce a cheaper 7-inch iPad (as far as we know) and the fractionalization of the Android space by Amazon and Barnes & Noble does introduce some undesirable variables.

More Shoppers Leaning to Kindle Fire Over iPad 
Computerworld
More than three times as many shoppers for tablet computers are considering the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire over the bestselling iPad, according to a survey by Retrevo.  

E-Commerce is the Key to Tablet Success for Amazon and BN
Geek.com
When you walk out of Best Buy with a Galaxy Tab, your financial relationship with Samsung is over. When you walk out with a Kindle Fire, it’s just the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Amazon.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Today's Headlines

Swipe vs.Scroll for Tablets:  Let the Debate Continue
Cenevoldsen (blog from Next Issue Media's marketing manager)
For publishers attempting to create an “edition based” experience similar to print, swiping from page to page gives readers a sense of familiarity. Vertical scrolling tends to feel infinite. The page just keeps going. It’s not necessarily a bad thing; it depends on what you want to achieve with your app.

Amazon Ramps Up Kindle Fire Production to Keep Up with Demand
DigiTimes
Amazon has recently increased its Kindle Fire orders to more than five million units before the end of 2011 as pre-orders for the machine remain strong, according to sources from upstream component suppliers.

RIM's PlayBook to Sell for $199 on Black Friday
eBooknewswer
Thanksgiving might still be weeks off,  but the ads for Black Friday have already started leaking. The ad for Staples has been posted online and the BlackBerry Playbook will be sold for $199 on Friday, November 25.  That's half the current retail price.


Netflix Will Be Available on Kindle Fire
San Jose Mercury News
Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet will offer a Netflix app among thousands of applications that will be available when the tablet debuts next week.Amazon and Netflix have battled for streaming-video content for the past several months, with Amazon attempting to beef up its Amazon Prime streaming service.

What Is the Value of a Tablet Anyway?
First Arkansas News
Both the Kindle Fire and the NOOK Tablet boast impressive specs at close to impulse buy prices and have generated a lot of press. However, the question that pops up with these devices is whether someone carrying a smartphone needs one of the things.

Mini Tablets Will Shake Market in Major Ways
The Washington Post
The Kindle Fire and NOOK Tablet accomplish about 80 percent of what you can do with an iPad, are backed by companies consumers know and trust and cost roughly half of Apple’s base model. "And I think they’re going to make a huge impact on the market," writes journalist Joshua Topolsky.  

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Today's Headlines

A Look at 10 High-End Android Tablets
The Register
There is really no such thing as a branded Android tablet. Instead, consumers have a range of devices from the usual Android suspects, including HTC, Samsung and Motorola, as well as machines from computer rather than phone wallahs, like Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Sony.  The end result is confusion in the mind of Joe Public

Japanese E-Commerce Giant Buys Kobo:  Watch Out Amazon?
Reuters
Rakuten, the Japanese Internet services and e-commerce company, intends to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Kobo for cash.  Kobo's services are available on Kobo-branded e-readers as well as other devices, including Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Research In Motion's PlayBook.

Airline Uses iPads as In-Flight Entertainment Device (and Cash Machine)
Padgadget
Jetstar, which travels mainly in Australia, will be offering iPads for use as in-flight entertainment devices for $10-$15 per flight.  Considering the cost for installing seat-back screens it may make good financial sense to approach airline-provided multimedia in this manner.

White Box Manufacturers May Push Harder into Tablet Market
Digitimes
White-box players in China are still set to launch new tablet PC products in the second quarter of 2012, according to sources from the supply chain in China.  Since the average cost of a 7-inch white-box tablet PC is only about U.S. $47 compared to Amazon's Kindle Fire, white-box tablet PCs still have an advantage in cost.

How Barnes & Noble's Retail Footprint Will Help It Battle Amazon
Mashable
Walk into a Barnes & Noble and you’ll see shoppers browsing book tables or flipping through a stack of possible purchases while they sip a coffee from an in-store Starbucks. Many of those same customers are likely going to wander over to the Nook’s front-and-center location as well — even if they weren’t particularly in the market for an e-reader or Android tablet in the first place.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Today's Headlines

Wired's First Impressions on NOOK Tablet
Wired
Indeed, the Nook Tablet is a serious, high-performing device for kids too young to sport a smartphone or iPad, and who don’t plow through enough books to warrant a Nook Simple Touch or plain-vanilla Kindle, but who could benefit from an inexpensive, highly mobile device that can do a little bit of everything.

Barnes & Noble Unveils Its Answer to Amazon's Kindle Fire
The Los Angeles Times
Company CEO William Lynch, Jr., knocked the Fire.  "The Kindle Fire is a vending machine for Amazon services — they've said it themselves," he said at the company's flagship store in New York's Union Square during the Nook Tablet unveiling. "In one word, we're more open" in allowing users to get their music and video content from wherever they want.

Barnes & Noble Finds Nook in Book Market
The Wall Street Journal
The NOOK Tablet has potential to fill a profitable niche in a still-fast-growing market. At $249, it's modestly more expensive than Kindle Fire at $199, but half the price of the iPad, which sells for $499 and up.

NOOK Tablet Ignites Latest Chapter in the Tablet Wars
The New York Times
The unveiling of the new tablet set up what is sure to be a heated competition between Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Apple, maker of the iPad, for the quickly expanding group of consumers who will shop for color tablets this holiday season. Amazon’s Kindle Fire retails for $199 and will start shipping next Monday.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Today's Headlines

Apple to Retain 75% of Tablet Market for Foreseeable Future
AllThingsD
With its competitors unable to field a true iPad rival, Apple’s tablet continues to dominate the market that it created.  And with a true rival yet to emerge, that dominance will likely persist for some time, further reinforced by the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Dell's $859 Tablet Available for Pre-Order
Endgadget
Dell's coy enterprise slate, the Latitude ST is now available for pre-order with an estimated delivery date of November 29 and an $859 price tag.If your too impatient to wait for Windows 8, this one's sporting Microsoft's seventh generation, weighs a hefty 816g -- nearly twice as much as the BlackBerry PlayBook -- and contains a 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 processor.

Fake  iPads Hitting the Market
Padgadget
Crooks will approach you showing off a perfectly good iPad. Once they have you hooked they pass off a bubble-wrapped ‘iPad’ pulled from a FedEx box. This bubble wrapped unit could be just about anything, though the ones they have caught are plexi-glass frames coated in duct tape with a Best Buy pricing label on the front.

HTC to Launch New Tablet in 2012
Reuters
HTC Corp , the world's No.5 smartphone maker, said on Monday it will launch a new tablet model next year, its first since a debut model in February. 

Friday, November 4, 2011

Today's Headlines

Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet to Be Announced Monday
AllThingsD
It will cost $249; $50 more than Amazon's Kindle Fire.  But it will have more memory and a faster processor. 

Amazon's Next Kindle Fire Will Have Larger Screen
DigiTimes
Amazon is likely to change its product roadmap by shifting the display size of its next-generation Kindle Fire to 8.9-inch instead of 10.1-inch as originally planned, according to sources in Amazon's supply chain.

BusinessInsider
Apple executives are saying that the lowpriced Kindle Fire  could actually be a good thing for the iPad because it introduces another level of fragmentation in the Android platform.

CRN
Like its predecessor, the Slate 2 isn't a tablet in the iPad mold, but a Windows 7 tablet PC that HP is pitching to the education, health-care, government and retail sectors. And until Microsoft launches Windows 8, the Slate 2 will likely be the only tablet-like device in the HP portfolio.